Reading suggestions

31 Aug 2004 - 12:29am

Last reply:
10 years ago

4 replies

901 reads

Martin Jonasson

2004

I'm trying to update my skills in graphical design and design of GUI. Last
time I focused on the excellent "Designing Visual Interfaces" by
Mullet&Sano. Anyone got suggestions for other good books on GUI-design and
communication oriented graphical design? What books are essential and why?
I'll appreciate all answers.

___________________________
Martin

Comments

7 Sep 2004 - 7:39am

Scott Rippon

2004

Dear Martin

I'm pretty new to the field so at the moment I'm reading up as much as
I possibly can. Besides the excellent help my supervisor has been
able to give I've found looking at what some of the experts in the
field recommend has been helpful.

>I'm trying to update my skills in graphical design and design of GUI. Last>time I focused on the excellent "Designing Visual Interfaces" by>Mullet&Sano. Anyone got suggestions for other good books on GUI-design and>communication oriented graphical design? What books are essential and why?>I'll appreciate all answers.>>>>Hi Martin,

The following books aren't only focused only on "graphical design and
design of GUI" but rather on a complete *methodology* to create a UI
that really focus on user needs (starting from user profiling to final
prototypes). I found these books really useful when I set up a
user-centered process in my company.

BTW, I am very interesting to get feedback from experienced designers
about the methodologies they use (and eventually about the ones
described in the books I've read)

-->"Software for Use: A Practical Guide to the Models and Methods of
Usage-Centered Design", by Larry L. Constantine, Lucy A.D. Lockwood
Comments: It is the fist book that I've read a I learn a lot from it.
The methodology is clear and I like how they structure the different
tasks in a tasks map, then create a content model based on interaction
context, and then decide of the visual design. I applied it several
times and get some nice results.

-->"The Usability Engineering Lifecycle: A Practitioner's Handbook for
User Interface Design" by Deborah J. Mayhew.
the lifecycle is very detailed and interesting. The author doesn't
forget that it is rarely possible to apply the complete lifecycle and,
thus provide shortcuts when it is needed to speed up the process. She
describes very well the process and also the documents you need to
write. I liked the section about the "work-reengineering" (or how to
automate some users process to "), the usability goals that have to be
set at the beginning of the project to allow easier design decision
later, and a lot of things....

Pierre

PS: A book that I didn't love that much, "User-Centered Design: A
Integrated Approach" - by Karel Vredenburg, et al;

8 Sep 2004 - 5:27am

Mitja Kostomaj

2004

>>I'm trying to update my skills in graphical design and design of GUI. Last>>time I focused on the excellent "Designing Visual Interfaces" by>>Mullet&Sano. Anyone got suggestions for other good books on GUI-design and>>communication oriented graphical design? What books are essential and why?>>I'll appreciate all answers.

Please have in mind that books are used not just for reading and studying,
but also for browsing, and looking for examples and inspirations.